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New National Statistics: Big increase in Welsh home births shows health targets do work
Date: Thursday, 14 December 2006
There has been a significant rise in the number of women in the UK choosing to give birth at home, according to official new data published by the Office of National Statistics (Office National Statistics, 12 December 2006, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_population/FM1_34/FM1_no34_2005.pdf ). The biggest increase - almost 20% - has been in Wales, where there is an ambitious health service target to increase the number of home births.
Across the UK in 2005, 17,279 of all births (716,421) took place at home, compared with 15,198 in 2004. This is an encouraging rise of 13.7% but is significantly lower than that achieved in Wales for the same period - a record 18.9% rise, up from 16.2% the previous year.
Wales now has a home birth rate of 3.61% - the fastest growing home birth rate in the UK. England, on the other hand, displayed a below-UK-average rise of 13.4% between 2004-2005, bringing its home birth rate up to a modest 2.53%.
Scotland shows the second highest rise in the number of home births with an increase of 14.6%. In contrast, the number of home births in Northern Ireland has actually decreased by 12.9%, resulting in a home birth rate of just 0.33% (Birth Choice UK, http://www.BirthChoiceUK.com/HomeBirthRates.htm ) .
Mary Newburn, Head of Policy at the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), said: “Wales is now leading the way in provision of home birth services and choice for women. It would be fantastic if England could emulate this success, but the evidence suggests this will only happen if there is a commitment to a specific health service target to increase the home birth rate.
“Currently women in many areas of the UK still find it difficult to choose a home birth. There is not enough balanced information available to enable them to make an informed choice about where to have their baby, and the shortage of midwives means that too often the option of a home birth is either not being offered or services end up being withdrawn at short notice.”
The National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services published by the Department of Health in September 2004 states that women should be able “to choose the most appropriate place to give birth from a range of local options including home birth and delivery in midwife-led units”. This is mirrored in this year’s White Paper, Our health, our care, our say - a new direction for community services, which gives the vision that “All women are offered a choice of where to give birth, where possible including midwifery-led services provided at home, in a ‘home-like’ setting or in hospital”(Department of Health. Our health, our care, our say: a new direction for community services. London: TSO; 2006.)
Mary Newburn continued,”The Government’s aims now need to be realised so that women are able to benefit from a real choice of where to give birth, including at home. We know of many low-risk women all over the UK, including Brighton, London, Liverpool and Leeds who have had straightforward pregnancies yet have been denied a home birth in the last 12 months for reasons beyond their control.”
Davina McCall, the NCT’s Ambassador for Home Birth says, “I gave birth to all three of my children at home and it was truly amazing. It’s great to hear that more and more mums are having the same fantastic experiences, but isn’t it a shame that a lot of other women still won’t have their wish to give birth at home come true this Christmas?”
For further information, a copy of the NCT’s home birth briefing, or to set up interviews with spokespeople and CASE STUDIES, please contact Anna Gardner or Emily Shelton in the NCT Press Office on 0870 770 3238 or email press@nct.org.uk (Out of hours, please call 07722 839428, 07743 856089)
Notes to Editors
Across the UK in 2005, 17,279 of all births (716,421) took place at home, compared with 15,198 in 2004. This is an encouraging rise of 13.7% but is significantly lower than that achieved in Wales for the same period - a record 18.9% rise, up from 16.2% the previous year.
Wales now has a home birth rate of 3.61% - the fastest growing home birth rate in the UK. England, on the other hand, displayed a below-UK-average rise of 13.4% between 2004-2005, bringing its home birth rate up to a modest 2.53%.
Scotland shows the second highest rise in the number of home births with an increase of 14.6%. In contrast, the number of home births in Northern Ireland has actually decreased by 12.9%, resulting in a home birth rate of just 0.33% (Birth Choice UK, http://www.BirthCho
Mary Newburn, Head of Policy at the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), said: “Wales is now leading the way in provision of home birth services and choice for women. It would be fantastic if England could emulate this success, but the evidence suggests this will only happen if there is a commitment to a specific health service target to increase the home birth rate.
“Currently women in many areas of the UK still find it difficult to choose a home birth. There is not enough balanced information available to enable them to make an informed choice about where to have their baby, and the shortage of midwives means that too often the option of a home birth is either not being offered or services end up being withdrawn at short notice.”
The National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services published by the Department of Health in September 2004 states that women should be able “to choose the most appropriate place to give birth from a range of local options including home birth and delivery in midwife-led units”. This is mirrored in this year’s White Paper, Our health, our care, our say - a new direction for community services, which gives the vision that “All women are offered a choice of where to give birth, where possible including midwifery-led services provided at home, in a ‘home-like’ setting or in hospital”(Department of Health. Our health, our care, our say: a new direction for community services. London: TSO; 2006.)
Mary Newburn continued,”The Government’s aims now need to be realised so that women are able to benefit from a real choice of where to give birth, including at home. We know of many low-risk women all over the UK, including Brighton, London, Liverpool and Leeds who have had straightforward pregnancies yet have been denied a home birth in the last 12 months for reasons beyond their control.”
Davina McCall, the NCT’s Ambassador for Home Birth says, “I gave birth to all three of my children at home and it was truly amazing. It’s great to hear that more and more mums are having the same fantastic experiences, but isn’t it a shame that a lot of other women still won’t have their wish to give birth at home come true this Christmas?”
For further information, a copy of the NCT’s home birth briefing, or to set up interviews with spokespeople and CASE STUDIES, please contact Anna Gardner or Emily Shelton in the NCT Press Office on 0870 770 3238 or email press@nct.org.
Notes to Editors
- A full breakdown of statistics is available from www.BirthChoiceUK.
com - BirthChoiceUK is an independent voluntary organisation dedicated to helping women choose where to have their baby through information provided by way of a website: www.BirthChoiceUK.
com . The website includes maternity statistics produced by the Department of Health and fully referenced résumés of the research relating to choices in childbirth - The NCT has a Home Birth information sheet for parents. Call 0870 112 1120 or visit www.nctsales.
co.uk for further information - Run by parents for parents, the National Childbirth Trust (NCT) is the largest and best-known childbirth and parenting charity in Europe. The NCT works to improve the experience of pregnancy, birth and the transition to parenthood for all parents and parents-to-be in the UK. For more information, please visit www.nct.org.
uk - NCT provides a range of services for any new parents including antenatal classes, postnatal discussion groups, breastfeeding counselling and a network of over 400 local branches for new parents. For further information, please call the NCT enquiries line on 0870 444 8707, 9-5 Monday-Thursday and 9-4 on Fridays or visit the NCT website at www.nct.org.
uk - The NCT is a registered charity (reg. no. 801395), and a membership organisation with over 68,000 members across the UK. All services are available to members and non-members alike. The NCT encourages parents to become members, as it is the membership fee that funds services. To join or renew NCT membership, visit www.nct.org.
uk/join
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